James Bond always draws a crowd. Nineteen films into the series and counting, MGM never seems to have a problem attracting blue-chip marketing partners for the evergreen Bond franchise. Last fall's release of The World Is Not Enough was no exception: BMW, Heineken, Visa, Calvin Klein, and Hershey Foods were just some of the marketers who teamed with 007. And they brought with them the usual bevy of marketing support.

 One thing was slightly different this time around. "Just about all our partners were asking, `What are you going to do online?'" says Megan Crawford, MGM's executive director of online marketing. "They wanted an Internet component." 

They got it with the James Bond Online Adventure, an effort that was relatively simple in concept and execution. (Nobody ever said online promotions had to be complex.) MGM ran a sweepstakes centered on a pseudo-scavenger hunt: Entrants didn't have to collect anything, but they did have to visit the Web sites of nine Bond partners. 

"We wanted something that would unite all our partners and drive traffic to their sites," says Keith Snelgrove, MGM's senior vp-worldwide promotions. 

Launched about six weeks before The World Is Not Enough's November premiere, the sweeps required entrants to first register with MGM. They then had to visit the partner sites, which were set up with "Choose Your Favorite..." pages taking a nostalgic look back at various elements of the Bond series. Partners were given relevant categories where available (BMW displayed "Bond Cars," Visa "Exotic Locations," watch maker Omega "Bond Gadgets," and EMI "Bond Themes."), and cool ones where not (Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard got "Bond Girls," Electronics Arts "Bond Villains," and Samsonite "Bond Henchman.") 

The trip down memory lane also helped MGM tout its Bond video library, which was getting a full-scale re-release and leveraging the buzz surrounding The World Is Not Enough. 

At each site, entrants were required to enter an ID number they received during registration, then select their favorite in the category before moving on to the next site. Once they hit every stop, they could enter the sweeps, which awarded a grand-prize trip to London on the Concorde.

 The effort generated more than 30 million page views and 81,000 unique entries to the sweeps. MGM used the data it collected to send e-mail reminders about the film's release. That's a strategy the studio will definitely use again, says Snelgrove. 

"I think MGM constantly strives to have really clever introductions for its Bond movies, and the Internet is a very important medium for carrying those kinds of messages," says Jim McDowell, vp-marketing for BMW of North America, Woodcliff Lake, NJ. "And in the right kind of environment, it makes sense for the partners to work together." BMW also had success with a self-run online Bond game, McDowell notes. 

"We are pleased that the promotion was such a huge success," says Elaine Gasser, North American marketing manager for Palo Alto, CA-based Hewlett-Packard's Jornada Handheld PC, a joint venture with Microsoft that was featured as one of 007's gadgets in the film. 

"MGM's use of the Internet to bring Bond fans together and promote The World Is Not Enough was a great complement to the film's high-tech plot," says Andrea Dancs, product manager in the mobile device marketing department at Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA. "The promotion provided a great opportunity for Microsoft to build awareness and excitement for the Jornada PC." 

Bond missions never fail.